"A model of <a href=""https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/explorer/explorer-overview.html"" target=""_blank"">Explorer 1</a>, America's first satellite, is held by, from left, NASA official William Pickering, scientist James Van Allen and rocket pioneer Wernher von Braun. The team was gathered at a news conference at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington to announce the satellite's successful launch. It had been launched a few hours before, on January 31, 1958."
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